David Cameron 's intervention in Libya left the country in ruin and spurred the growth of ISIS , MPs say today.

The Foreign Affairs committee says the 2011 military operation to oust Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was based on 'erroneous assumptions' and flawed intelligence.

In a scathing report they slam an 'opportunist' Mr Cameron for taking the country to war without a clear strategy to support post-Gaddafi Libya.

Britain and France were the ringleaders behind the air strikes launched in 2011 to protect Libyan civilians.

But the committee says the operation turned from a limited intervention into an 'opportunist policy of regime change'.

Britain failed to 'identify that the threat to civilians was overstated and that the rebels included a significant Islamist element', the report says.

The committee concludes: "The consequence was political and economic collapse, inter-militia and inter-tribal warfare, humanitarian and migrant crises, widespread human rights violations and the growth of ISIL in North Africa."

The MPs said weapons from the Gaddafi regime were seized by terrorist groups in Algeria, Egypt, Mali and Tunisia as well as Boko Harem in Nigeria.

The UK Government 'could not verify the threat posed to civilians by the Gaddafi regime'

The report says: "The international community's inability to secure weapons abandoned by the Gaddafi regime fuelled instability in Libya and enabled and increased terrorism across North and West Africa and the Middle East .

"The UK Government correctly identified the need to secure weapons immediately after the 2011 Libyan civil war, but it and its international partners took insufficient action to achieve that objective."

It adds: "We have seen no evidence that the UK Government carried out a proper analysis of the nature of the rebellion in Libya.

"It could not verify the actual threat to civilians posed by the Gaddafi regime; it selectively took elements of Muammar Gaddafi's rhetoric at face value; and it failed to identify the militant Islamist extremist element in the rebellion.

"UK strategy was founded on erroneous assumptions and an incomplete understanding of the evidence."

The MPs say the UK and France, having led the military action, are responsible for failing to help rebuild post-Gaddafi Libya.

Committee chair, the Tory MP Crispin Blunt, said: "This report determines that UK policy in Libya before and since the intervention of March 2011 was founded on erroneous assumptions and an incomplete understanding of the country and the situation.

"Other political options were available. Political engagement might have delivered civilian protection, regime change and reform at a lesser cost to the UK and Libya.

The UK would have lost nothing by trying these instead of focusing exclusively on regime change by military means.

"The UK's actions in Libya were part of an ill-conceived intervention, the results of which are still playing out today.

"The United Nations has brokered an inclusive Government of National Accord. If it fails, the danger is that Libya will sink into a full scale civil war to control territory and oil resources."

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "The decision to intervene was an international one, called for by the Arab League and authorised by the United Nations Security Council .

"Muammar Gaddafi was unpredictable, and he had the means and motivation to carry out his threats. His actions could not be ignored, and required decisive and collective international action.

"Throughout the campaign we stayed within the United Nations mandate to protect civilians. After four decades of Gaddafi misrule, Libya undoubtedly faces huge challenges.

"The UK will continue to play a leading role within the international community to support the internationally recognised Libyan Government of National Accord."

Tuesday, 13 September 2016

There is almost nothing I can think of that I approved of among Cameron's policies, writes Martin Deane

"In almost every arena, education, health, welfare, economy, defence, foreign relations, he has failed by most people's reckoning.

"Apart from allowing gay marriage, Cameron has left the majority of the country more insecure, poorer, slashing survivability for those on welfare, more medically insecure, a higher national debt, lost the nation's top credit rating and promoted crises of staff among major like teachers, nurses and doctors. In addition, he made a deadly gamble to tackle the Ukip attack on the Conservatives by holding a simplistic binary referendum – which he lost.

"Some might praise his win of the Scottish referendum. But even making the Queen purr won't deter a new referendum post-Brexit.